Again this week we will be looking at analyzing and developing arguments. Find an article or social media post to analyze. Use this to begin practicing your rhetorical analysis. Break the text down and figure out why and how they are using persuasion. Here are some questions to guide your analysis.
- Who is the audience? Who are they targeting?
- How are they presenting themselves? Author’s persona?
- What do they want you to believe or understand?
- What is their purpose or agenda? Why are they writing this?
- What appeals are they using? Ethos, Logos, Pathos?
- What argument are they making?
- What is their tone like? Are they respectful, dismissive, or insulting?
- What claims and evidence do they use, if at all?
- What implicit and explicit assumptions are there?
Make sure your journal response is at least 250 words long. Comment below with your response.
Professor Ramos' Blog 
In today’s media, many women have been hypersexualized in media in order for the sole purpose of entertainment. In the ad I am researching, I have noticed that the author is presenting the women in a highly sexualized manner in order to target their main audience, men. They want men to focus solely on this woman and realize his desires are what they want him to focus on. The purpose of these commercials are to mash mens two favorite things, hamburgers and porn. These are commodified desires for young men and are easily eye catching.
The commercial possesses no ethical appeal and its only purpose is to entertain. Although, it is an ad, selling an audience soft porn is not a very credible source. Onto logical appeal, there is none given. It is trying to get men to focus not on money or “why I want to eat this” but to forget these questions and just go out and buy this product. The ad seems to focus completely on pathos, or your emotional appeal onto the topic of hypersexuality in media. Both sides, male and female perspectives may have different views on how seen and the ad can be taken many different ways. Their tone is borderline offensive considering they are only using women for the purpose of entertainment.
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https://youtu.be/SfAxUpeVhCg This is a commercial created by an organization that encourages people to stop smoking. This uses more of an emotional appeal. They are trying to tug on the heart strings of parents who smoke. The commercial starts with presumably a mother who brings a little boy in with her, to what looks to be, maybe a subway station. They stop for a moment, and the mother disappears. The little boy looks around with a lost and scared expression on his face. Sad music starts to play as everyone continues to just walk by him. After a few seconds the little boy starts crying. A man begins to speak, saying, “If this is how your child feels after losing you for a minute, just imagine if they lost you for life.” The words “your child” gets the parent thinking about their own little one instead of the boy in the commercial. They want the parents to believe that if they do not stop smoking they will die, leaving their child to live a life without their mom or dad, or both. This commercial never says why cigarettes are bad for one’s health, or how they can kill someone. The speaker uses a matter of fact tone implying that they know, and assuming the audience does as well. I agree that this commercial is making a good point. Cigarettes cause cancer, strokes, and heart attacks making it very likely that a smoker with a child could succumb to one of those health risks, and the child would be left without that parent.
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The music video “Crooked Smiles” by J.Cole has a meaningful message behind it. It begins with J.Cole setting up his daughters birthday. As the video goes on it shows him having good times with her, and at the end he gets arrested for possessing illegal things to have money for his daughter. The lyrics have the most meaning and it about how people are unhappy about life and what they have. From looks to the best clothes. He gives many example mostly how his teeth are not perfect but worth the picture still. Also the song is more towards women saying how everyday they wake up and put makeup on to feel good about themselves. The message is how many people look at all the negative things that they don’t have, but they will not be happy until they just accept it. Mostly how women feel like they have to meet a certain standard to be considered beautiful.The video mostly appeals to our emotions , due to singing a lot about looks and feeling accepted. J.Cole uses his music to put a positive message out there to anyone feeling down about their looks or generally just not fitting in. He tells whoever is listen to embrace what they have and that will be the start of being happy with themselves.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkfpqGWzHCE
Google published this commercial the day before International Women’s Day to show support of gender equality and feminism. The purpose of this advertisement is to acknowledge the movements taking place all over the world that are fighting for gender equality. Furthermore, Google writes this commercial to advertise their search engine. Google want their audience to understand that gender equality is growing in numbers throughout the world and that they support those who are searching about and advocating for gender equality. Google claims that the movement for gender equality is progressing because their users are frequently searching for facts, data, and information about gender equality, as well as how to take action.
In this video, they are specifically targeting all female and feminists around the world who desire gender equality; however, they hope to persuade those against gender equality or feminism. Google is presenting themselves as pro-feminism and gender equality. The video displays a positive, respectful, and upbeat tone that expresses that “the world is seeking answers”, “the world is taking action”, and “the world is speaking out” about gender equality. Furthermore, the soundtrack evokes an inspirational and optimistic tone. Their tone is very hopeful and positive because they testify that women are on their way to achieving gender equality by providing evidence. Google provides evidence by using their “google search trends data” and illustrating that “the world is speaking out” by listing known people and movements speaking out about sexual assaults, gender equality, and feminism.
In order to appeal to their audience, Google uses all three appeals to support their argument. First, Google use of ethos by demonstrating they are a credible source when they focus on “the world is searching for gender equality.” They are a credible source because Google is one of the most known search engines and websites dedicated for searching information. Additionally, they show that gender equality as well as equality for all is morally and ethically correct by showing the positive impact from current and past movements. Secondly, Google provides logical and rational evidence by showing what is the most common searched topics. For example, they type “gender equality in” and their search engine provides a list of the top searches: India, Australia, South Africa, America, China, Pakistan Philippines, Sweden, Nigeria, Singapore, and Germany. Thirdly, Google uses pathos by showing various images that appeals to their audience’s emotions and data that inspires their audience to ask questions, take action, and support equality for all. For instance, they show an image of an older brother supporting his younger sister who is wearing a sweater that states, “The future is female.” This image evokes emotion for their audience because future generations are desiring gender equality and both females and males can be feminists. Ultimately, Google testifies that women are on their way towards achieving gender equality.
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This is arguably one of the scariest videos I have ever witnessed, it is the closest I have seen to a fascist advertisement in my lifetime. The Youtube video is titled “We Don’t Apologize for the Truth” in which the NRA takes the stance that people who want gun reform and dislike the NRA are in fact haters of the truth. Literally going so far as to tell people to “get over it.” The video shows a random white man attacking liberal Politicians and political commentators, he does not work to find a middle ground or to see their point of view, and instead he says that those people are talentless or no longer relevant. There is a strange pseudo- call to arms, asking people to stand up for their rights and “come out” as conservatives.
The video appeals almost entirely to pathos, mostly because the NRA literally has nothing else to go on. The author wants you to believe that the NRA are the true defenders of America, and activists working to change gun laws are in fact trying to destroy liberty. Rather than see protests as a marginalized groups attempting to make their voices heard, the video claims they are anarchists working to destroy the government and kill conservatives. The video makes no attempt to appeal to liberals or middle of the road people, it only wants to light a fire under those who already agree. Basically guns laws will be passed within the next twenty years and these people are getting stressed out because they’re standing on the wrong side of history and it’s slowly becoming more apparent to them.
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On March 8th, 2018 president Trump tweets “Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze. Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time. Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached.” This will be a huge accomplishment if President elect Donald Trump can keep his word, and not use rhetoric in taunting of Kim Jong Un. The targeted audience of this tweet is the general population of the United States of America. I don’t think there is any reason that Kim Jong Un would want to go to war with the united states, other than the fact that he is being harassed and threatened by Donald Trump. A meeting is going to be set up in the near future with Kim Jung Un and President Donald Trump to discuss and reach an agreement to denuclearize North Korea so that we can create a pact so that they won’t use nuclear weapons of mass destruction against the United States. Under the agreement until this meeting there is to be no missile testing amongst North Korea Kim Jung Un has agreed to this. White house press release secretary Sarah Sanders stated Friday,” They have made some major promises. They have made promises to denuclearize. They have made promises to stop nuclear and missile testing,” Sanders said. “We’re not going to have this meeting take place until we see concrete actions that match the words and the rhetoric of North Korea. (CNN politics)
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https://driving-tests.org/beginner-drivers/10-reasons-you-shouldnt-text-and-drive/
This is an article posted to drivingtests.org that covers the issue of texting and driving. The author is aiming to target a large audience of drivers who may use a device that could serve as a distraction when getting behind the wheel of a car. The original author for this article is not mentioned, but the website that this article is posted under serves as an informative hub for current driving issues and regulations. The author wants us to understand that putting one’s own life and the lives of others into danger is not worth the risk, especially when sending a text. The purpose of this article is to prevent automobile collision that may be influenced by texting and driving.
The author implements ethos to appeal to a crowd of smartphone users by utilizing emoji symbols as the common theme throughout the video. The author asserts logos by making it known that using a smartphone while driving is already illegal in almost every state throughout the U.S.. Pathos is incorporated in the video by presenting a scene with a relatable situation of a quick and frightening collision, and closes the video with a caption that reads, “Don’t let an emoji wreck your life.” The tone set forth by the article is straight forward, as well as dismissive when discussing the issue of texting and driving. When covering the “It’s (probably) illegal” topic, the author adds the National Conference of State Legislatures as one of their sources. There is an implicit assumption that the person distracted by their cell phone would have been sending a text. Though texting might be a common distraction, the driver could have been doing anything on their cell phone during the collision. The bottom line is that, when operating a motor vehicle, one’s attention should be exclusively set on the road to avoid serious issues.
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https://youtu.be/nRKeamyoTsQ In this commercial by beats it shows some kids from Dublin Ireland getting ready for a fight and then it shows Conor McGregor and he’s also getting ready for a big fight he then puts on his headphones and starts to listen to “JUICY” by The Notorious B.I.G. and it goes back to the kids talking about how they will always be together even when they get famous and that they will block out the noise/ haters
and work there way to the top. The main audience for this commercial are the people who like to listen to music and want to block out anything that bothers them. They are presenting themselves by showing someone who has worked their ass off to get were they are now and wont stop because there work just started. They want us to know that with their product you can block out anything that bothers you or the stuff that you don’t want to hear. They want us to believe that their product will help us block out all the haters and the carp we don’t want to hear . They’re using pathos more than ethos or logos because they are using the kids that are dreaming big and that nothing will stop them from dreaming and achieving there goals. They are arguing that their product is great for blocking out the stuff that you or me want to hear. They are being very respectful towards their audience by showing that their product is great for listening music and to help you achieve. They are using a huge fighter who had to work his whole life to get were he is at now.
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This is a short video that was created by Vince Staples who is in the spotlight of this generations rap music. Many people have referred to his music using “robot video game beats”. He is being bashed on his stage performance, the energy he is giving thought the performance and production choice. He has come up with a GoFundMe page in which if enough individuals donate up to 2 million dollars he will quit his career and he will never be heard from ever again. If the goal of 2 million is not achieved he will therefore continue what he is doing and continue making music and be in the spotlight.
The purpose for this video is to make the people who are saying these things about Staples to be quiet. Basically if those individuals do not like his music they do not have to listen to it they can simply avoid it. He shows a pathos appeal by making the of the audience strive towards paying and making him be out of the spotlight for good from hatred towards him and his music. The other part of the audience is showing love and support towards Staples on social media because of this video. Most importantly some people will be happy he is out of the spotlight while others will be very upset.
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https://instagram.com/p/BgCnloKAJI8/
In the link above is a picture with a comment i have found on Instagram about amazon about to be the first trillion dollar company but also doesn’t have to pay taxes. Which is a comment that Donald trump himself has used in the media. While amazon has poor employees while the company gets richer.This picture is meant to get a reaction out of those who say that corporate greed is ruining America or to get a an uproar and a possible boycott on the company. They are presenting themselves as a reliable source with a valid argument. They want you to believe that the company is corrupt and is a sort of monopoly that doesn’t have to obey anyone or laws. The purpose of this post is to give amazon a bad image as well as give a reason to not want to use amazon and hurt their company. They are using pathos and ethos. Pathos to get an emotional response out of those who feel it is unfair that they would do such a thing and logos to make you think negatively about the company. The argument they are making is that amazon is using its employees for its own selfish gain while the employees are living a low standard. The tone of voice is one of disapproval. They make a claim but make no effort as to back it up with evidence. If you look further I to the subject amazon does pay taxes but they are known to use loopholes and what they can to not pay as much. The overall assumption though is that amazon is a corrupt company that doesn’t care about its employees well being while it makes huge amounts of money for itself.
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This video on YouTube is about a comedian named Stephen Colbert. He address the concurrent issues that may include political views and/or other major announcements from around the nation. In this video he talks about president trumps actions and what his responses are to those that are against him. In a comical and serious manner he portrays his thoughts on the ideas of the situations that are imminent to society. As he addresses the issues with what trumps actions are, the audience tends to be persuaded about his counter actions. He uses a lot of pathos in a sense of sending laughter to the audience to act on their attention. He uses this method to his advantage to help the audience understand the detrimental issues with politics or other prombles around society. It’s comical as well as quite tantamount from his persuasion aspect. This connects to our class by the grandiose use of pathos and having the audience appeal to the emotions of laughter. Another use is logos by enriching the audience with the details and the proof he shows of the topics he’s expressing. He relates in some way to the audience with the situations that are currently affecting society. This I think is a good way to entice people of the predicaments of the nation. By using mainly comedy this is a great way to help him prove the facts or his point of view. His tone is in some way a formal but a disrespectful manner but not to the audience but of the individuals he is trying to address. Although this may cause some conundrums to some viewers, it also aids to prove his perspective on the topic.
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This song called “Love Yourz” by J. Cole is this artist’s way of telling his fans, and just anyone who comes across this song in general, that they won’t ever be happy unless they love all that they have. He repeats statements like, “it’s beauty in the struggle expletive, ugliness in the success,” to tell the listener that life has its bad moments, but we should find the good in it and that success is not always all it’s made out to be. He also uses a lot of personal stories and how he’s felt along the way as a form of pathos to persuade the reader that what he is saying is true. J. Cole talks about the struggles he went through, how he even went through times where he felt his “grip loosening”, or in other words, that he felt he was going to lose himself and not like who he was anymore. The purpose of his song is made clear when he says, “No such thing as a life that’s better than yours (Love yourz).” He is clearly stating that he wants everyone to know that there will always be someone “better” or “richer” or “more beautiful”. However, just because those people are out there, that shouldn’t dictate our happiness. He wants us to work hard and find beauty in our struggle and love all that we have along the way because all we have is what we have. Living a life full of envy is not a very fulfilling life.
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https://youtu.be/FTFiZlPufNI
So, in the commercial, this woman who is accompanied by her son, and possibly her father are in a Boost mobile store informing themselves about their prices and what possible offers Boost mobile has at the moment. The Boost mobile employees then explain to her the deals and she proceeds to shot out “you get a line” toward her son, possible father, and asks a random stranger in the store named Bill and shouts this at him. The Commercial tries to convince the audience which is comprised of teenagers, adults and even elderly people both men and women to go to their stores and “get a line” with their services. They appeal to the audience’s ethos by making themselves and their employees look professional, friendly, and trustworthy. They achieve this by making their store seem clean, simple and with nothing to hide. They then appeal to the audience’s pathos by convincing them that they have found the greatest deal on phone service by showing them that their rates are so low that people could even afford to purchase another line for someone they don’t even know. They then appeal to the audience’s logic by showing them writing stating that they’re “Super Reliable” and “Super fast” and claiming that they have “Nationwide Network” which are three of the most important things that people look for when joining a phone service provider. Those three phases appeal to the audience’s logic because it leads them to believe that since those phrases are written out they are not exaggerated and or straight out lies.
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This is a Chevy commercial from 2014 called Maddie about a girl going through her life with a dog. It shows her from the moment she gets the dog as a young girl, the moment the dog is euthanized, as a dying dog. Throughout the commercial it shows a Chevy in the background of many shots, as well as showing very little of the dog at all, except in shots where it is a part of the scene as a joke to show the girl growing up and getting a boy friend, birthday, adoption, and death. The audience is people who like dogs and want cars. The author’s persona seems to be respectful although i don’t like the message of, “your dog will die, your car won’t”. They want you to believe that Chevy’s new release is worth buying (Because dying dog). They are trying to get you to buy their car (to replace your dead dog). They are using the pathos of loosing a family member to convince you that even if you loose someone, your car will still out live them. Their argument is that their car is quality, as it will last as like said before was in all parts of the girl and dog’s life. They are respectful but the way the ending is presented makes it feel very awkward as out living family pets is not a great selling point, but this commercial strangely seems to say that it is. Their evidence is that the car lasted longer than the dog. The explicit assumptions are that in the average of fifteen years that that dog lived the car aged extremely well. The implicit assumption is that one family kept a car for near to twenty years and yet the car came out in 2014. This was a bad way to send a message of your new car. I mean does “buy this car, it will outlive your cherished family pets” sound like a great selling point.
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I found this set of photographs of an ad while scrolling through Pinterest. The design of it immediately caught my attention. I had never seen an ad be placed on the steps of an escalator. This escalator ad is targeting a large portion of people who use the escalators in the shopping mall that it is located in. Without even reading what text is stated at the top, it is clear to see what message the ad creators are attempting to spread awareness of. They want you to understand that the usage of plastic bags harm ocean animals. Their purpose is to get the audience to purchase reusable bags, specifically ones from their website. The ad is appealing to pathos because as the escalator steps move up, it appears as though the shark is swallowing plastic bags, which will kill them. Although sharks are not liked by many, knowing that other ocean animals can suffer the same fate may pull at some heartstrings. The text at the top of the escalator states a fact; hundreds of thousands of marine animals die each year, and we are responsible for those deaths because we are the ones who discard the plastics bags that kill them. Not only did the ad inform the audience of an important issue, it also provided a visual that complemented the message they are spreading. I think the combination of both will open a lot of minds to make the transition to using reusable bags.
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In this video the news broadcasting station CNN was covering a deadly incident at a Florida seaworld in which a female trainer lost her life when she was thrashed around by a Killer whale named Tilikum who weighed upwards of 12,000 pounds, A very sad sight to behold as many audience of the “Shamoo” show watched in horror. The whole video is very pathologic because the woman that died is just added to the number of victims taken at the hands of a wild animal. Yea a lot of pathos, a sense of credibility that comes from the empathy expressed by the news reporters as well as the facts they provide regarding incidents in the past, not to much logos because there was not any logos really needed because of how emotional the event is. The tone of the video is depressing and sad throughout, as is any death of a human. The audience consisted of all age groups and probably left them scarred for life. The entire story behind this event is a tragedy. Beginning with the trainer, a woman in her 40’s who cared deeply for the animal who took her life. Very sad indeed, but the story of the orca whale is also extremely sad, barricaded in such a small area of confinement fearing the cycle that repeats again and again. Nowhere to swim, nowhere to journey, enslaved in an environment so foreign to the creature, or maybe not so foreign depending on the age at which they are taken captive. I feel a pathological tug everytime I see a video of an animal in an enclosure, zoo, whatever you want to call it simply because that is not there home, they will not willingly travel to a zoo or man made habitat because that is not what an Orca whale wants (or any animal), they do not want you to prevent their population from being extinct because there is no need for that, they do not want to service another species because they are not meant to. You physically have to act upon a wild animal if you want it to go about its routine in a zoo. And yes I know, the animal “is not the same as a human” but it pretty much is the same in the sense that it belongs in an environment and should not be displaced. Just like the displacement of humans should never occur. Usually when any animal is placed inside a zoo you can compare their natural habitats with the ones they are placed in, in doing so you will laugh at the size difference of habitats. This is because man cannot try to mimic nature just like nature cannot mimic man, even though they are intertwined they do not share the same goal. The goal of man is to profit in order to sustain a powerful lifestyle, while the goal of nature (animals, insects, cryogens etc.) is to simply Live Life not asking for anything in return but just living off of natural instinct and the resources nature offers them. That is how humans should live life, and yes nobody is perfect and it is very hard to live the life of a pre-technological man! I am faulty, you are faulty, the World is faulty. Sea world is ultimately to blame for the death of any tourist or trainer or “attraction” because in the long run animals that live their life in zoos have every right to unleash their natural instinct. Also, consider that a large fraction of animals that are kept in enclosures are either carnivores or hostile by nature hints why they lash out resulting in events of tragedy like the one in this video. Beautiful creature, beautiful life, beautiful death, scary creature, scary life, scary death. It is all Beautiful and scary. Your life is like a real life season of 1000 Ways To Die, but do not fear living because then you will be left with nothing after death because death is fear.
I am learning more and more everyday in all sections of life because that is what I am meant to do, that is what we as the 21st century youth are meant to do.
Live your life I am not one to judge. With that being said, one piece of advice I can give anyone that would like to listen is to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not take long breaks away from life, but do not forget to take breaks.
In other words just don’t lay dormant in the doldrums because it will take time to get moving again.
YOU ARE ALL SPECIAL IN YOUR OWN WAY BECAUSE YOU HAVE UNIQUE DNA 🙂
777example
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This image is of a political cartoon of a man in a suit standing on a mountain of his money, while someone at the bottom of his mountain asks to raise the minimum wage. The man at the top of his mountain is shouting down to the person asking for raised minimum wage and saying “your greed is hurting the economy!” As he unironically stand atop his mountain of money. This image represents the people who have money and wealth essentially hoarding their money and not helping the economy while people who are paid minimum wage can’t afford food let alone a home.
In my opinion, the audience is both the rich and the poor. What I mean by that is, it’s meant for the rich due to the fact it is trying to show them what they are doing wrong and how they can fix it by doing something with their money other than keep it for themselves. This image is also meant for those making minimum wage, of whom could be deemed as poor, because it’s showing something so real that they experience it as those people who get paid minimum wage and cannot climb the metaphorical ladder of success when they can’t even afford to keep a roof over their head.
The appeals the creator is using is pathos, by drawing in and appealing to those of the minimum wage workers but also to use anger and righteous fury in a way to protest the rich people who don’t help the economy grow but instead are the ones harming it. The tone being straightforward with the calm demeanor of the protester as well as the furious rich man who shouts down from his metaphorical throne of money.
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https://pin.it/jber7rlaniebzc
Third time’s the charm
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My article is a piece that was done on a set of photos and a tweet of several “Russian soldiers” who were standing guard over a the recently destroyed Hollywood star of Donald Trump. The tweet shows two stone faced men with a Russian flag and green uniforms with Russian symbols solemnly “watching over” the star that was defaced several days ago. The caption then goes on to describe how it was a fitting image of the president who was protected by the Russians through hacking and other methods.
I find both the tweet and the actions being portrayed to be extremely idiotic. Twitter in its nature is not a “well of wisdom” so to speak, and I understand that, but the man who posted this gives absolutely no solid evidence of his claims that Trump is colluding with Russians. His tweet relies totally on pathos with zero credibility or logic involved. Saying that the president of the U.S. is colluding with a foreign government to retain power is a HUGE claim, and he offered nothing in the way of solid evidence to back it up. This is the way that this generation tends to approach problems I feel like. All feeling, zero logic, and a self appointed sense of credibility. Obviously not every millennial is like this, but it is something I have started to see more and more. As far as the guys in the suits go, who has enough time to stand around a broken piece of tile all day in a Russian uniform?! Sounds to me like they need a hobby.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fake-russian-soldiers-‘guard’-trump’s-hollywood-star/ar-BBLeUqt?ocid=spartanntp
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